Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:54 am

I saw a time lapse film of one of these things on a TV natural history film, very creepy how they move about and change their shape, better than a science fiction horror film!

This quote:-

"Mathematical equations written to explain the process of slime mold aggregation have been changed slightly and used in the programming that controls some of the behavior of action figures in video games. The original equations were developed by two scientists, Mitch Resnick and Evelyn Fox Keller, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their equations have also become the basis of the program StarLogo. StarLogo mimics the activities of groups such as ant colonies and flocks of birds. Like the aggregation of cellular slime molds, these organisms' orderly patterns of activity occur without the direction of a leader. Studying patterns and events with the aid of computer software is called "modeling".

Was found in this link:-

http://www.herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/FunF ... meMold.htm

DaveW

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:20 am

I ran across that link sometime back, some pretty interesting stuff.

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:43 am

In trying to track down a name for the still unidentified ???? in my next posting, I came across Exidia thuretiana (also found in my area of the UK) as a possible id for the slimey character in the current posting, see:

http://www.waarneming.nl/foto_overzicht ... ogel=16562

Interestingly, it's an unlikely relative to the black fungus in my Exidia glandulosa - Witch's butter posting.

What do you think?

Bruce

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:20 am

Bruce,

The only Exidia species I can find in my book on European fungi is Witches Butter.

Evidently it must grow in the UK but I can't find even under it's synonyms. Here it is in Ireland:-

http://www.nifg.org.uk/species/atlas2.h ... 0000021377

And here recorded in England:-

http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/R40148.HTM

Post a picture and lets see?

DavwW

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:43 am

Hi Dave,

Perhaps my last posting in this current thread was a little misleading

. I have underlined the key words in the following (modified) quote:

Bruce wrote: "In trying to track down a name for the still unidentified ???? in my next posting, I came across Exidia thuretiana (also found in my area of the UK) as a possible id for the slimey character in the current posting...."

I was suggesting that the image I posted at the beginning of this thread might be Exidia thuretiana (so you have already seen the photo). My reason for thinking that was because of the similarity between the "slimey" in my photo and the ones on the www.waarneming.nl website (link provided in my last posting in this thread).

From the searches I have done using Google it would appear that there are several Exidia species native to the UK including (from the Bioimages website) E. glandulosa, E. neucleata, E. recisa and E. thuretiana.

The BMS website also list (in addition to the above) E. plana, E. saccharina and E. repanda as British species of the genus Exidia.

Another E. thuretiana specific website worth a visit is: location map of Exidia thuretiana

This last website shows concentrations in the Bedfordshire/Buckinghamshire area where my photo was taken.

Bruce

(interestingly my identification guide (by Roger Phillips) only lists E. glandulosa).

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:17 pm

I was using Roger Phillips "Mushrooms & Other Fungi of Great Britain & Europe" too!

DaveW